A recent videotape in which Osama bin Laden stresses the importance of martyrdom for a Muslim might contain old footage, CNN reported on Sunday.

The 40-minute videotape was made recently, but includes a clip, less than a minute long, with a message from bin Laden, which is thought to be older than the rest of the tape's contents.

"We're aware of the tape," a government official, who didn't want to be identified, told CNN. The official agreed that the tape's content is not necessarily new.

Bin Laden praises martyrdom in his brief appearance, saying the prophet Muhammad himself watned to be a martyr and that it was a worthy goal for any Muslim.

The tape was aired on a website that routinely carries messages from the al-Qaeda in the same week that the US Senate doubled the bounty placed on bin Laden's head to USD 50 M.

Al-Qaeda is thought to be at its strongest now since just before the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, raising the prospect of new terrorist strikes in the US.

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